Former cabinet minister Priscah Mupfumira’s bid for freedom has hit a snag for the umpteenth time after her bail application was dismissed by the Supreme Court Tuesday, Zim Morning Post has learnt.
The matter was heard before Justice Marie-Anne Gowora and she dismissed the bail application for lack of merit and on basis that the appeal was defective and Mupfumira’s lawyer was fully aware of the irregularities.
She noted that the determination by the Acting Chief Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi on the certificate by the Prosecutor General was not appealed against.
The High Court ‘bail hearing’ was therefore a non-event hence Mupfumira approached the Supreme Court without following proper court processes at the lower courts.
“In my view, the court a quo was not properly seized with this matter and the decision to set aside was a gross irregularity.
“There was no legal premise before the court a quo to interfere with the certificate. Its acceptance by the Acting Chief Magistrate was an exercise of his discretion in terms of the Act which exercise was never challenged. The court a quo was invited and persuaded to set it aside on the basis of submissions made to it by appellant’s counsel premised on the alleged constitutional invalidity of s 32(3b) of the Act. I have already found that those remarks by the court a quo have no legal justification,” Gowora noted.
“There was no legal premise before the court a quo to interfere with the certificate. Its acceptance by the Acting Chief Magistrate was an exercise of his discretion in terms of the Act which exercise was never challenged. The court a quo was invited and persuaded to set it aside on the basis of submissions made to it by appellant’s counsel premised on the alleged constitutional invalidity of s 32(3b) of the Act. I have already found that those remarks by the court a quo have no legal justification,” Gowora noted.
Mupfumira was arrested July 25 by members of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and is facing seven counts of criminal abuse of office in terms of s 174 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. Zim Morning Post
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